Waking Up
by danish99
Summary: When people of the Capitol and several Districts grow bored, Katniss and Peeta have to wake up from whatever fantasy world that they had created for themselves and their family. Follow Calla Mellark as she fights the battle that her parents did nearly 30 years before.


Chapter One

"You're an idiot," I grumble, elbowing Orion in the ribs. I don't even really remember what we're arguing about. But we've been fighting ever since we left the house.

"No, you're the idiot" He shoots back, shoving me into a tree, where I drop my bow and bang my elbow.

"Both of you! Knock it off, I'm sick of hearing it and you're scaring off the game!" My mother yells, shutting us up. She's tiny, almost a head under me, but she's also intimidating. _Very _intimidating. I guess being the face of a rebellion will give anyone an edge. I pick my bow off of the ground and hurry behind them, placing each foot carefully. I don't know how she does it, but my mother can walk on the crunchiest of the fallen autumn leaves without making a sound, hunting with her makes me feel like an amateur, even though I've known how to use a bow since I could walk.

I glare at Orion out of the corner of my eye and he mouths profanities at me, he's only twelve, but his tongue is just as bad or worse than Haymitch's. Haymitch gave up on drinking around the time Orion was starting to talk, meaning that he was allowed to see us more often, which lead to Orion's first word not being "Mommy" or "Daddy" This of course got quite the chuckle out of Haymitch. My parents? Not so much.

Around noon we reach our usual resting place with our usual haul and break for lunch, Orion and I head to the river for drinking water and to check the nets for fish. On the way back I hear voices in the distance and scurry behind a tree where my mother is talking to a man near our spot. He looks familiar, tall with broad shoulders, the same coloring as my mother and I, as well as the hair, clearly he was once from the Seam, his stormy eyes are glassy with tears and he has deep wrinkles between his eyes and on his forehead. He's probably in his mid-forties, but I can tell he was once a very attractive man. I force the wondering thought out of my mind and focus on the conversation.

"- You don't want to see me, but-" he is cut off by my mother's wavering voice.

"Why are you here?"

"I saw clips from your Games, and I-I missed you Katniss. I wanted to see you but didn't think you would want to see me, so I visited your mother. I needed to know if you looked the same- if you were the same. She said she hadn't seen you in years and couldn't tell me. I had to come for myself" He reaches out to touch her cheek and she swats it away.

"You saw my mother?" She breaths. "And of course I'm not the same, that-" I hear her choke back a sob and wish that I could jump out and wrap my arms around her, protect her from whoever this man is. I suppose I could, but I'm much too curious to put an end to this so easily and plus, the conversation seems important. "-That was a lifetime ago. No ones the same"

"I know you blame me for- for her- for Prim," He says, his voice cracking on my aunt's name. "Hell, I blame myself-"

"No, stop. Don't go there. It's not fair-"

"Who's that?" Orion says too loudly.

"Stay there and shut up!" I whisper harshly to him, not answering his question and missing what my mother was saying.

"But this is heavy" He whines, glancing at the water jug.

"Shhhhhh, I can't hear what they're saying!"

"Why now Gale? Why not 25 years ago?" Gale! That's who he is and why he looks so familiar, I've seen him on TV several times and learned enough abut him in school to know that he was my mother's best friend and had a major part in the rebellion. Knowing who he is and how he abandoned my mother makes me take a step out from behind the tree, but the desperation in Gale's voice causes me to stop from going any further.

"Because I knew you would look at me like that! I knew you hated me, I thought if I stayed away, I wouldn't be able to hurt you anymore" She stares at him in silence and my stupid brother drops the jug with a curse. My mother whips around and Gale perks up, focusing his gaze on Orion. My mother is too stunned to even scold Orion, Gale turns unbelievably pale and his mouth forms an 'O' shape. "I never thought he would look so much like him" I assume he means my father and finally my mother cracks, her knees buckle under her and sobs wrack her entire body. I run to her, wrapping my arms around her frail form.

"I think you should go," I say venomously to Gale, who is now staring at me.

"No! If he leaves, he might never be back," She cries, ripping herself from my arms and crawls towards Gale. I've never seen her act this desperate before. "I told myself that I would never forgive you, I don't know if I have or not. I just know that I'm angry. You left Gale. You just left without saying goodbye and a part of me did hate you, but the other part missed you. The other part missed her best friend. I didn't just lose my sister that day, I lost my mother too."

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><p>I'm not sure what happened after we were sent home, my father wanted to go into the woods himself and find her, but I talked him out of it, if the two make peace then maybe she would be happier, things really couldn't get much worse. It's after dark and we were just cleaning up from dinner when she walks in the door, eyes swollen and red. My father envelops her in a hug and carries her upstairs without saying a word, they do that a lot, knowing what the other is feeling just by the look on their face. Is it weird to be jealous of you're parents? I hope to find a love like that someday.<p>

"What do you think went on?" Orion asks meekly, looking up at their closed bedroom door.

"I don't know, I guess we'll find out in the morning" I sigh, rinsing off a plate. "Maybe you should go to bed, I can handle this" Without a second thought, he lays down the bowl he was drying and bounds up the stairs. Despite the circumstance I smile, he's not the kind of brother that listens to everything- correction, anything- his older sister says, but he'd do anything to get out of doing the dishes.

I finish up and go to my room to do some reading, but my mind can't focus, it keeps drifting to Gale. Somehow I end up leafing through a history book, landing on his page. It doesn't give me much, nothing more than I already knew anyway. After the revolution he was offered a job in District 2 with the Panem government, which, of course he took and has never set foot into District 12 until now.

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><p>In the morning I walk down stairs and find Gale sitting with my parents at the kitchen table, not expecting him, I hadn't bothered to get dressed. My father hears me dashing back up the stairs and calls out to me "Calla!" I take a deep breath, begging my face not to flush with the embarrassment of Gale seeing me in my pajamas.<p>

"Good morning" I say, forcing a strained smile on my face and not moving from my place on the stairs.

"Come down, we need to talk to you" He says, "These two have something to say to you and your brother."

"Can I get dressed first?" I ask, not wanting to step into full view.

"It will only take a second. I promise" I let out a defeated sigh, taking a seat at the end of the table farthest from Gale and wishing my sleep shorts were longer.

"We um- I wanted to apologize for how we met yesterday." Gale mumbles, staring at his hands. "I was out of line by just showing up like that. I hope you can forgive me" I'm not sure if he's talking to me or my mother, or even if he's finished, but I guess if he's anything like my mother, this is probably killing him. I look at my parents, my father nods and my mother's eyes don't move from Gale's face.

"It's okay," I say awkwardly. "I'm sorry I spied on you" I see one side of his mouth quirk up and eventually his eyes follow.

"You're a curious little one aren't you" He laughs, and I sit up straighter, slightly offended by him call me little. "Miles is too curious for his own good too" My confusion must be apparent, because he adds, "My son, he's 17. A year older than you I think" I nod, not really knowing what to say.

"So how long are you planning on staying, Gale?" My father asks politely now that his apology is apparently finished.

"As long as everyone will have me. It's good to be back" No one says anything in agreement, I glance at my mother and she's still staring at him, trying to figure out what to think about the whole situation I guess. I thought she would have figured everything out yesterday, but she probably wasn't even with Gale all that time. You never know with her.

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><p><em>Authors Note: Voila! Chapter one complete! It's sort of fast pace, but I hate the beginning of stories because I find them so boring. What does everyone think of Gale and Katniss? Do you think they will become friends again? Well anyone who read Nightmare Come True, know what happens, but…<em>

_(By the way, Nightmare Come true, is sort of the same but completely different! Same characters and beginning-ish, that's all!)_

_I edited this chapter by the way, that's why its up again. Oh and I changed Danny's name to Calla by the way!_

_Reviews are always welcome!_

_Xoxo Danish_


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